


Keep A Close Watch

by AnonEhouse



Series: Starvation Sleep-Deprivation Stories [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Deleted Scenes, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-03-18 20:37:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3583185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonEhouse/pseuds/AnonEhouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Over the years, watches have meant a lot to Tony, starting with an unexpected gift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keep A Close Watch

(If you are reading this on any PAY site this is a STOLEN WORK, the author has NOT Given Permission for it to be here. If you're paying to read it, you're being cheated too because you can read it on Archiveofourown for FREE.)

The box had been waiting in Tony's dorm room when he returned after the funeral to pack up. It was just a plain mailing box, but it had his mother's own handwriting on the label. As much money as the Starks had, she still wrote out labels on personal mail.

He'd opened the small package as carefully as if it held diamonds. It was probably the few survivors of an attempt at baking Toll House cookies, or maybe a wilted sprig from the lilac in the garden. Inside the box was a layer of purple tissue, with a folded sheet of lavender colored stationery. He opened it. 'Your father and I are very sorry we couldn't be there with you, but we wanted you to know how very proud you have always made us.'

It took a few minutes before Tony was able to wipe his eyes dry and set the note carefully aside to remove the gold-colored box that had been below it. It was a watch. He didn't know why he was surprised. A watch was a traditional graduation gift. He just... hadn't expected anything. There wasn't any note in the box from his father, which was the norm, really. Mom had signed all their Christmas cards over the years. It was a very nice watch, though. Top of the line. He turned it over and over, and then the light caught the engraved inscription under the back. 'It's your time now, Tony.' It was in his father's handwriting.

He blew his nose and put the watch on.

 

Tony suspected Obie had realized what the shining gold watch on his skinny wrist meant, when he came down to the limo with his box of belongings, red-eyed and sniffling. At least after that, Obie tended to give him watches whenever there was an occasion for it. And it felt good. Obie had been Dad's trusted partner, so it was a little, just a little, connection back to the old man.

It had been nice returning from Afghanistan to find the watch from Obie, with the note eerily reminiscent of the one from Dad, 'Thank God, it wasn't your time'. Tony had worn that watch exclusively for a while.

 

Until. You know. Obie tried to kill him and overloading the Arc Reactor hadn't gone up in the instantaneous ball of cleansing power Tony had envisioned, but it had killed Obie's suit, trapping him in it as the skylight structure sagged and warped, failing slowly. Obie had reached out for Tony. Not begging. Just. As if it was his due. As it had always been his due to expect from Tony.

Tony could barely move himself, but he couldn't call himself a man and not try, despite everything. He stretched out, and Obie grabbed his wrist greedily. "Don't mistake this for kindness." After everything Obie had done to so many people, so many Tony would never know the extent of it, Tony would have let him drop. But Yinsen. In the cave, Yinsen had fired at the ceiling rather than injure his murderers. Tony would never be that great a man. But he would hold Obie's hand as long as he could.

Obi's smile gleamed up at him, and why had Tony never seen the malice in it? "I've never mistaken anything about you since you were a child." He's definitely insane, probably can't envision himself dying, the world wouldn't dare, not to Obediah Stane. Hanging on to life, held only by the man he's crippled, Obie continued to rave about 'the genie is out of the bottle' and the 'two of us have left a wonderful gift for the world', as if having his pet engineers copy and bastardize the Iron Man had given him some claim to creation.

Tony tightened his jaw. He wasn't going to argue with a madman.

Obie suddenly twisted, lunging as if he was working his way free of the armor, but it was just a diversion. He grabbed Tony's wrist with both hands. "It's time for both of us to go."

Tony couldn't move.

But the watchband snapped, and clawing at it, screaming wildly, Obie lost his grip and fell. Tony twisted aside as the reactor responded to the unwanted garbage suddenly fed into its core. He closed his eyes against the bright fury.

 

On what he expected to be his last birthday, Tony looked at the box of watches Natalie offered. Not his Dad's gift, it was going to be a rough night and he wouldn't risk damaging it. And not one of Obie's, either. Why the hell he hadn't thrown them all in the ocean was beyond him. He chose one he'd bought himself. His time might be limited. But it was his own.

**Author's Note:**

> (Based in large part on two deleted scenes from Iron Man, but I twisted the second one. In the deleted skylight scene, it's Tony's armored glove that comes off. And then there was the scene in Iron Man 2.)


End file.
